Official Says Honig Tried to Coerce His Support : Politics: Mehas of State Board of Education says schools chief attempted to make a deal. At stake was his eligibility for the panel.

A member of the State Board of Education on Wednesday accused State Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig of trying to force him to back Honig in his clash with the board over who should determine public school policy in California.

Board member Peter G. Mehas, who is the superintendent of schools in Fresno County, said Honig made it clear he would not question Mehas’ eligibility to sit on the state board if Mehas would side with the state schools’ chief in the dispute.

Mehas’ standing as a board member is in question because he may be violating the common-law doctrine called “incompatibility of public offices” by serving on the state board while he is the elected Fresno County school superintendent.

At the board’s March 6 meeting, Mehas provided the crucial sixth vote when the board decided 6 to 4 to reject a so-called memo of understanding sought by Honig to settle the power struggle. Honig subsequently asked Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren to determine if it is a conflict for Mehas to sit on the board.

Mehas, who was former Gov. George Deukmejian’s education adviser for almost four years, said Honig told him in an early February telephone call that he would not raise the eligibility question if Mehas would vote for the memo of understanding.

But Honig said it was “absolutely untrue” that he had offered a deal when he talked to Mehas. “I told him we had a problem because (Joseph R. Symkowick, the Department of Education general counsel) did the research on this and came to the conclusion that there was a conflict,” Honig said. “I told him he should either resign or get his own opinion from the attorney general. But we didn’t talk about the memo of understanding at all.”

Mehas said Honig “didn’t say it outright” but that Mehas had the “clear understanding” that if he voted with Honig’s board critics, the state superintendent would question his right to be a board member.

Mehas said that Honig “made it clear before the March meeting that he did not intend to push the (eligibility) issue but just wanted me to be aware (of it). Then, immediately after the vote, he made the statement, ‘OK, if you guys are going to play hardball, I am, too.’ ”

Just after the vote on the memo, Honig told the board that Mehas’ vote did not count because “there’s a statute which says you cannot hold two offices at the same time.”

Honig said he was surprised when Mehas voted to reject the memo because the Fresno school official “told me when he first went on the board, ‘I will help you resolve this dispute with the board. I’ll help work it out.’ ”

Honig said Mehas’ claim of a proposed deal “doesn’t make sense” because the governor’s office, the legislative counsel and several members of the Legislature already knew of the possible conflict before his telephone conversation with Mehas took place.

Mehas said he has not decided whether to resign from the board, to which he was appointed by Deukmejian five months ago.

He said he will “meet with some people in Sacramento” today and probably will announce his decision at the board’s monthly meeting on Friday. He said he would resign if Lungren determines that the “incompatibility of public offices” doctrine does apply.